Lincolnville Festival, county fair canceled this year

The 32nd annual Lincolnville Heritage Festival, usually scheduled for the first weekend of November at Francis Field, has been canceled. The St. Johns County Fair also will not happen — after being canceled in 2011 as well. The event was traditionally held in late October or early November at the St. Johns County fairgrounds in Elkton.

“We are not holding a festival this year. We met a few months ago and decided to postpone the Lincolnville Festival,” said Errol D. Jones, one of the Lincolnville Heritage Festival organizers and City of St. Augustine commissioner.

“We had bad weather last year and lost money. We had to reach into our pockets to pay for the event last year.”

In addition, Jones said that the festival did not receive funding from the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council.

“We are disappointed because this is only event that deals with African-American heritage. We try to highlight African-American culture (at the event),” Jones said.

“We work in combination with the American Legion Post 194, a predominantly African-American post.”

Jones said the organizers of the Lincolnville Heritage Festival are working with the county and staff at the Amphitheatre to schedule some events in the coming months that will help raise funds to bring the festival back next year.

“It will be the 32nd year (in 2013) ... It won’t be continuous, but it will be held again,” Jones said.

St. Johns County Fair

The St. Johns County Fair was canceled in 2011 due to lack of funding from area sponsors.

This year the situation is the same, according to Dr. Fred Springer, who has served as the volunteer fair manager for the past five years. Springer is a veterinarian with offices in Elkton and St. Augustine.

“The economy is really bad and there is not enough community support to continue the fair,” he said.

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I looked forward to the event before it was moved to Francis field. Once moved it really took away from what made it worth while. Bigger is not always better. I loved the local vendors and the food that was available.

The great thing about the Lincolnville Festival was that it was held in--ready???--LINCOLNVILLE!!!

With all that's been done to "lift up Lincolnville," how about moving the event BACK there???

Streets were blocked off, everyone got to mingle, the music (OMG!!!) and food were terrific!

And do you remember the posters? Awesome! Reinstitute the poster awards and give young Black artists some recognition!

Making this festival a "business" is, I think, its downfall. How about a true, small-town event--Americana--for us locals! And whatever tourists who happen to be here and are interested? We live here, too!

Everyone seems to have gone bananas on events a la the 450th nonsense. Dial it back and create an event that will last, be there every year, and not depend on support by mega-corporations.